Fannie Preston Literacy Learning Center

Help teachers learn how to put proven methods to work in teaching children.

Help California's teachers and students address the challenges created by living in one of the most multicultural, linguistically diverse societies on earth.

Help school districts commit to making "every child a reader" with policies, programs, techniques and tools that get lasting results.

At Saint Mary's College of California we bring those resources together in our Literacy Learning Center, located in our School of Education. Saint Mary's College of California has long been a leader in teacher education, with special expertise in preparing reading specialists and literacy leaders. Supported by generous and visionary grants, including the Knight Foundation and Pacific Telesis, Saint Mary's College of California offers a unique center that brings together resources, schools, teachers, and students needed to make lifelong literacy a reality.

The objectives of the Center are to:

Build the capacity of the School of Education and school districts/schools to deliver effective reading instruction to diverse student populations.

Implement instructional performance-based assessment strategies that will ensure the ability of perspective and experienced teachers to teach reading.

Re-educate and/or enrich the education of experienced teachers so that they feel empowered to teach reading effectively to diverse student populations and to assist with the induction of new teachers into the profession.

Establish a literacy collaborative, comprised of all relevant constituents, that focuses on problems related to literacy learning, shares expertise, seeks and share resources, and makes recommendations for the attainment of the Center’s goals.

The Preston Literacy Learning Center encompasses a variety of credential, certificate, and Master's degree programs, outreach efforts, events, activities and research in the area of literacy. The Multicultural Child and Adolescent Literacy Collection houses over 1 thousand volumes and is used by all students. The Center provides a continuum of offerings for its partners in schools and school districts. These include literacy programs for classrooms that put children on the right track, early intervention programs that help struggling students become fluent readers and later intervention models to address the needs of older students. Saint Mary's College and the Literacy Learning Center offer: